Chapter 1: The Start

"Come on girls, hustle! Butts down!" Our coach, Coach Lissa yelled at us during practice. She was hitting down balls for us to dig. I was in the middle and two girls that were on my team were on both of my sides. She hit the ball straight down at me, I pancaked and the ball came up and straight to the setter. "Yes! Very nice Fay!" Coach Lissa cheered as I got back in line.

I've been playing volleyball for ten years now, ever since I was six. My sister would pass the ball with me, obviously I wasn't that good when I was younger but as I grew older I just found the sport so exhilarating and fast paced, which I loved and I've been doing it ever since. My mom signed me up for every class and open gym as possible. My sister who is five years older than me also taught me. And now I'm the Libero on my team.

The drill finally ended and then we all crowded around Coach Lissa. "Great practice today girls. Don't forget to stretch tonight and I'll see you tomorrow for the first game this season."

We all put our hands in the middle and did our cheer "Mangos on three!" I cheered

"One, two, three, mangos!" We all yelled together.

We all sighed in relief. Practices were hard. But it will be totally worth it, hopefully. I ran into the locker room with the rest of my team and changed into nike shorts and a clean t-shirt. I took of my volleyball shoes and clothes which was a volleyball shirt and some neon pink spandex. Then I stuffed everything into my gym bag and slid on my slides. "See you guys tomorrow!" I yelled as I exited the locker room.

"Bye!" Everyone hollered back.

I walked out to the parking lot and then pulled out my key chain that had two keys on it. My car key and the key to get inside my house. I unlocked my car which was a silver Hyundai Elantra, her names Betsy. I got into the drivers seat and started the car. Once I was on the road I turned on music and the radio started playing my current favorite song, 'Oh Darling' by Gossling. I turned up the volume higher so that the song would vibrate through my windows. It didn't last long because before I knew it my car had reached the driveway of my house. I took my keys out of Betsy, got out and then locked the door behind me. I slowly walked to the front door and unlocked it with my house key. Once I was inside of my house I walked up two flights of stairs to get to my room and then plopped down onto my bed, exhausted. Keep in mind I haven't had a real volleyball practice in like five months and I was totally unfit.

After a while of lying on my bed doing nothing I decided I needed to take a shower so that when my parents got home they wouldn't complain about the stench that was roaming around the house. Seriously, I smelled like a dead animal and so did my knee pads.

I shuffled my feet all the way across the hall to my bathroom that I used to share with my sister. Now she was off living her life in New York, going to college. Sometimes the house feels completely barren and lonely.

I took off my clothes and threw it into the hamper on the side of my sink and then hopped into the steamy water. After I finished showering I grabbed a towel off the hook on the wall and wrap my body in it. Then I shuffled my way back into my room and locked the doors. I put lotion onto my alligator like skin and put on a pair of fun patterned nike spandex and a volleyball shirt, which pretty much sums up most of what's in my closet.

I put my towel back neatly on the hook and head down the stairs to make myself dinner.

I looked in my pantry and my eyes went straight towards cup noodles. I grabbed one and then took the kettle and boiled some water. While I waited I turned on the t.v. and changed the channel to FOX to watch 'So You Think You Can Dance'. Which was my current favorite show. My favorite dancers that have ever been on the show has to be Amy or Fikshun they were both so amazing! I wish I could dance like they do, but atleast I've got volleyball.

Finally heard the kettle squeak and screaming so I quickly ran to the stove to turn off the heat. I grabbed the kettle off the stove and poured the water all the way up to the line in the cup. I grabbed a fork from the utensil drawer and then went and sat down in front of the t.v. and began to eat my noodles.

"Hey Sweetie." My mom greeted me as she stepped into the door.

"Hi mom." I managed to say with a mouth full of noodles.

"Really? Why do you eat so many noodles?" My mom questioned me. "You can't keep eating like that with the amount of exercise you do, it's not healthy." My mom strictly pointed out

"Sorry." I whispered. I took my last bite of what was left and then threw the styrofoam cup into the trash.

"Fay!" My mom yelled from the kitchen as I walked up the stairs to my room.

"Yah?!" I asked.

"Come down here!"

"Okay! I'm coming!"

I walked to the kitchen and saw my mom standing there with her hand her hip. "You forgot to take out the trash and recycling." My mom lectured me as she pointed towards the two bins.

"Sorry." I whispered and then took them out to the big trash bins.

I walked back inside the house and proceeded to walk back upstairs to my room. Once I got inside I threw myself back onto my bed and sighed. I decided to stretch so I plopped down on to the ground and then started doing leg stretches, splits, anything that I could think of because being sore is not fun, let me tell you. After I finished my long stretching session I got up and walked towards my closet to pick out my outfit for school the next day. I decided on a super simple outfit. I picked out a volleyball camp tee shirt, some nike sports leggings, nike socks, a hoodie and my nike shoes. Once that was sorted out I sat at my desk and started diving into homework, which was more like drowning because the teachers gave us way too much especially our math teacher. She was the worst teacher, ever. She never teaches us anything and acts like we're stupid. Ugh.

"Hey, I'm home." I heard my dad say as he walked into the house and shut the door behind him. I got out of my chair and rushed downstairs.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey, how was practice?"

"Really good!" I smiled as I pulled him into a hug. "Are you and mom coming to my game tomorrow?" I asked.

"Of course." My dad said immediately.

"Sorry, I can't I've got to work late tomorrow." My mom responded after.

"You always have to work whenever I have a game." I told my mom.

"I know. I promise that I'll be there for your next game."

"Okay." I said. "Well I've got a lot of homework waiting for me upstairs." I said as I pointed towards the stairs and then ran to my room. I sat at my desk and continued my homework.

I finally finished it at seven o'clock. I walked to my bed and laid down on it, pulled out my phone and started to text my sister.

Hey.

Hey.

What ya doin?

Just got back from class. U?

Just fin HW.

How was practice? Dad told me you made the team.

It was fun. Harsh coach though.

Don't worry it'll get better.

Hope so.

Gtg Ttyl lil'

K nite sis.

I went onto spotify and pulled my 'calming' playlist and then plugged in my ear phones. After a few songs I started to drift off and then I was dreaming.

---->

A/N: Soooo... What do you think? It's my first chapter so it's a bit rusty and short but hopefully it'll start getting better soon. Thanks so much for reading!

Picture of Fay Macari, played by Madeline Carrol on the side >>>>

~Pham234 or Scarlett